Blue Lines: The Assassins Series: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (32 page)

“I don’t know why you are upset,” he muttered as they entered Carter’s.

“I’m pretty sure I made my reason clear.”

Erik shook his head as she held up a little blue outfit that she grinned at, then
dropped it in her basket. “I’d think by now, you would know that when you’re with
me, you pay for nothing. That’s how I roll.”

“Well, it’s not how I roll. I can pay for my own things.”

“I don’t doubt that, sweetheart, but you won’t when you’re with me.”

Piper rolled her eyes as she picked out a few more little blue things and threw them
in the cart. He loved when she got feisty like this. Dropping his bags in the middle
of the aisle, he said, “Come here.”

Piper glanced back at him and then scoffed, “No.”

Erik’s dick pressed hard against the zipper of his jeans as he watched her pick up
another outfit. Groaning inwardly, he said, “Mrs. Titov, I asked for you to come here.”

Shaking her head rebelliously, she said, “No, you said, ‘Come here’ like you are
demanding me to, and I’m busy.”

Erik chuckled as he took a step toward her and said, “Sweetheart, please come here,
I want to kiss that naughty little mouth of yours.”

She glanced up at him, her blues eyes bursting with lust as she pinned him with a
look. “It’s not naughty.”

“Oh yes it is; now come here,” he said again, pulling her to him.

She melted in his arms as his lips met hers. His want for her was frightening but
at the same time he craved it. He had said that he couldn’t commit but sometimes he
felt like he had already. Moments like this, being wrapped up in her arms, her sweet
little mouth on his—there was nowhere else he wanted to be. So what was the big deal?
What was holding him back?

Pulling away, Piper smiled before moving out of his arms. “You will not ravish me
in the middle of a baby store, Mr. Titov.”

“Why not?” he asked playfully, smacking her sweet ass.

She jumped in surprise before turning to look at him and in a mock whisper said, “Because
people can see us.”

Erik laughed as he looked around. “They probably encourage it. If I didn’t ravish
you, you wouldn’t be pregnant, and without babies they wouldn’t be in business.”

Piper rolled her eyes as she laughed. “You’re impossible.”

Walking away, she shot him a grin over her shoulder before turning to look at something
else. Man, she was so beautiful. His heart kicked into overdrive when he was around
her, and he couldn’t believe how much he wanted to be around her. It was as if he
never wanted to leave her. Would it always be like that? Or would it change once he
went back to his old life? Training camp was starting soon and then he’d be traveling.
Would he stay true, be the man who she believed he was?

“Erik! Look! They have a whole hockey line! Eek!” she gushed, holding out a little
hockey outfit and little booties shaped like skates. He might not know what his future
held, but he did know that right now, he wanted to try, and not just for her, but
for Dimitri, too.

To his surprise, he was falling for both of them.

* * *

They had spent the whole day shopping and joking around with each other. Even though
it made her mad that he wouldn’t let her pay for anything, she kind of found it romantic.
It was sweet that he wanted to take care of her and the baby. It made her feel good,
and gave her hope that he wasn’t leaving. Especially since he helped choose things
for the nursery.

After all of that shopping they had worked up an appetite and decided to grab a bite
before heading back home. She was glad they did; her feet were killing her.

Wiping her fingers on her napkin, she asked, “Do you want the rest of my salad?”

He shook his head, taking a swig of his beer. “Nah, I’m good.”

She nodded as she sipped her water. Wanting to keep the conversation going, she asked,
“How old were you when you started to play hockey?”

“I was three.”

“Three! Sheesh!”

He smiled as he ate a fry.

“I was in skates as soon as I was able to walk. Jasha played when he was young, so
he got us started at a young age, too.”

He took a swig of his beer and then looked over at her. She could tell that he wanted
to say more but he was holding back. She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile
and he smiled back before looking down at his plate.

A moment passed before he finally said, “He was actually a good dad until she left
for the first time. I now know that she had gotten into cocaine and other drugs, and
he just couldn’t deal with her leaving us. I think he loved her more than anything
in the world. Sometimes I felt like he loved her more than us,” he said with a laugh.

“He never touched me until Jakob left. I think he knew that, together, Jakob and I
would fight, you know, and I guess he saw me as weak without Jakob. I guess I was.”

“Erik, you were a kid,” Piper said, shaking her head. “You weren’t weak.”

Erik nodded. “I don’t know, sometimes I think I was. I mean I was a strong kid, I
could have fought back, but I didn’t fight; I took it and I don’t know why. Why didn’t
I call and tell Jakob what was happening, tell my teachers or call the cops? He told
me the day he left that if anything happened, to call, he’d come and get me. I waited
until I was sitting in a bloody room with two dead bodies in front of me before I
called him.”

Piper bit the inside of her cheek as she watched a haunted look come over his face.
Her
heart ached for him, and she wanted to reach across the table and hold him, but knowing
that he might not accept that from her now, she reached for his hand and squeezed
it tightly. She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Erik.”

Erik nodded, running his thumb along the base of her hand. “You are the only one that
I’ve told all that to. I know I haven’t told you much, but you know more than anyone
else.”

Piper smiled as warmth filled her chest; that had to mean something. Nodding, she
said, “Well, just to let you know, it makes me feel special that you wanted to tell
me that.”

He smiled over at her. “You are special, Piper.”

Piper’s cheeks warmed as she leaned over the table, her belly bumping into her salad
as they kissed. He made her feel so amazing when he said little things like that.

Parting, she flashed him a grin as she slowly sat back.

Taking a drink of water, she said, “Reese and I danced early, too. Mom thought we
were going to be this amazing duo, but it was more Reese than me. I was damn good,
but I liked to sing, too, so I wanted to do it all. I was such a free spirit.”

“You still are,” he said with a smile.

“This is true, but I’m not as bad as I used to be. I used to change my mind a lot.”

Erik shook his head. “That’s insane.”

“Yup, I wanted to be something new all the time. I was never happy.”

She looked up to meet his gaze. He had a weird look on his face as he asked, “Are
you happy now?”

She smiled. She wanted to say that she had never been so happy in her life, that he
made her life complete, but since he was a little skittish, she said, “Yeah, I am.”

“Good.”

The waitress came to get their dessert orders, which Piper passed on, but Erik ordered
a big piece of cheesecake.

“You know, I wish I would have tried more things,” he said once the waitress had taken
their order.

“You still could,” Piper said. She moved a bit, trying to get comfortable. She cringed
as her back ached and he looked over at her with a concerned look.

“What’s wrong?”

“My back is killing me. I think I wore the wrong shoes for shopping,” she said, referring
to her flip-flops. Waving off his concern, she said, “What do you want to do that
you haven’t done yet?”

Erik shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I would like to go skydiving, but Coach
Bacter would kill me.”

“You aren’t missing anything,” Piper said with a wave of her hand. “I used to want
to be a skydiving instructor but then I found out it wasn’t as fun as I thought.”

Erik shook his head. “You are crazy.”

“I hear this often,” she said with a laugh.

Erik leaned back in his chair and asked, “Is there anything that you haven’t done?”

Piper put her finger to her lip as she thought, and then with a smile she answered,
“I’ve never ice-skated!”

“Really?” Erik asked, shocked.

“Nope, I’ve actually been afraid to—don’t laugh!”

“You will jump out of a plane but won’t get on some ice?”

“It just doesn’t seem right. You do it beautifully but I’m pretty sure I’d look like
a spider on roller skates.”

Erik continued laughing as the waitress brought over his dessert. Piper eyed it and
watched as Erik took a forkful before looking up at her. “Want some?”

“No,” she said quickly, shaking her head and looking away.

“Whatever,” he said with a chuckle before putting the bite in his mouth. “I’m going
to take you skating; you have to learn. Dimitri will be on skates as soon as he can
walk.”

“Good for him, but I will not.”

“I won’t let you fall,” he assured her.

“No way,” she said with a shake of her head, but a grin on her face.

He pinned her with a lusty look as his mouth curved up at the side. “You don’t trust
me?”

“Oh, that’s dirty,” she said accusingly, still grinning.

“I try.”

Piper giggled as she rolled her eyes. She was about to say she wasn’t going, but her
phone rang. Digging it out of her purse, she saw that it was Harper. With a smile,
she answered, “Hey, you.”

“Hey,” she said with a sniff, and Piper knew something was wrong instantly.

“What’s wrong?”

Harper let out another sob before taking in a deep breath. “I lost another baby.”

“Oh Harper,” Piper said sadly as Erik glanced up at her. “What do you need me to do?”

Piper hated that her sister couldn’t carry a child, and no matter what anyone said,
she thought she could. She knew that it was hard to accept something you didn’t want
to believe was true. This couldn’t be good for her body.

“I need you to come get Ally for me for the next couple of days. I need a D and C
to get the fetus out and then I am going in to have my tubes tied. I’m done, Piper.
I can’t do this anymore.”

Oh, thank God.

“Okay, that’s fine.”

“Can you come get her tomorrow?”

“What time? I have to go help Reese tomorrow at nine.”

“My surgery is at one, but I gotta be there at ten. I’ll ask Elli to come over and
get her,” she said with another sniffle.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll have Erik keep her while I’m with Reese.”

“Oh, okay. I forgot about him.”

Piper ignored that and said, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow; everything is going to
be okay. I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks Piper, bye.”

As Piper hung up the phone relief filled her. She was sad for Harper, but she was
glad she finally realized trying to get pregnant wasn’t good for her, physically or
mentally.

“What’s wrong?” Erik asked.

Piper glanced up from her phone. “Harper had another miscarriage.”

“That sucks. Is she okay?”

Piper shook her head. “Not really; she is having surgery to tie her tubes tomorrow.
She isn’t going to try anymore.”

“So we are keeping Ally?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind, can you keep her tomorrow while I help Reese out?” she asked,
pulling out her phone to send an email to Emmaline to let her know that she might
be late sending chapter 10 since she would have Ally.

“What are you doing with Reese?”

Piper looked up. “She needs help with some choreography. The same thing I did last
time.”

Erik let out a frustrated breath. “Piper, you can hardly shop without your back hurting
and you want to dance?”

“I’ll manage,” she said simply.

“No, I don’t want you to. You need to take it easy. Reese will figure it out and I
don’t understand why you have to keep Ally when my brother lives there, too. He could
watch his own kid.”

“They are my sisters and I like to help out when they ask.”

“I understand that, sweetheart, but you have a lot going on. Our baby is coming. You
have a book and a nursery to finish before that. I’ll call Jakob, tell him to keep
Ally, and then you tell Reese that you can’t help anymore.”

“Erik, I am fine I can do everything.”

Erik shook his head. “No, you can’t. Please, humor me here. You won’t worry about
yourself because you are worrying about everyone else. I worry about you, so please
help me keep my mind at ease.”

Piper blinked, confused. Maybe he was right; she did have a lot going on. If she wanted
him to trust her then she needed to show him she trusted him, too, even if she’d rather
do what she wanted. She was a busy person, always helping out when people needed her.
It was in her nature, but Erik was right, her back had been bothering her. She had
actually been dreading dancing tomorrow because she knew she would be off her ass
for the rest of the week.

With a nod, she said, “Okay.”

“So what are we doing here?”

Erik glanced over at Piper and waited for her to answer. He wasn’t a fan of doctors’
offices and he’d much rather be at home, laid up on the couch. Piper looked over at
him from the magazine she held and smiled.

“They are just checking me out, making sure our little man is okay.”

“Okay,” he said, leaning back in the chair. After all, they did need to know the baby
was okay. Reaching for his phone, he started to play
Angry Birds
as they waited. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long and soon Piper’s name was
being called. Piper put her magazine on the side table and stood as Erik followed
behind her.

“Hey Piper, how are you?”

Wait, he remembered that voice.

A bad feeling came over him as he looked up and discovered why. Dread filled him as
he locked eyes with Piper’s nurse. Erik never forgot where he put his dick and it
had been way down the throat of Piper’s nurse. Christina was in the room when Piper
came to tell Erik she was pregnant.